OneCare zaps Outlook, Outlook Express e-mail

[DelJo63]

March 07, 2007 (Computerworld) --
Microsoft Corp. has acknowledged that a bug in its Windows Live OneCare
security suite has been causing users' e-mail to vanish from Outlook and Outlook Express.

The company said a fix is in the works and will be pushed to OneCare users next week.

The OneCare bug, first reported by users writing on a OneCare support
message thread six weeks ago, seemed to be deleting Outlook and Outlook
Express data files -- .pst and .dbx files, respectively -- after a malware scan.

"The program did a scheduled update and then did the normal scan on my
hard drive," Kevin Kimp wrote in an e-mail to Computerworld. "The next time I
opened Microsoft Outlook, I got a message stating that Outlook could not find
the file outlook.pst. This program has done more damage to my computer and
my business than any virus or spyware that I have ever had."

Other users reported similar behavior with Outlook Express.

Article details here

 

[bockman]

Oopsie! Oh well!

 

[Tmagic650]

I'm running Windows Live One Care and I use Outlook 2000. I have noticed no problems with either program. The newer Office versions may have issues as explained in Jobeards post

 

[DelJo63]

Update: still more problems

OneCare users hopping mad at Microsoft over deleted e-mail

March 12, 2007 (Computerworld) -- Users, still angry about Windows Live
OneCare's habit of making e-mail disappear, are slamming Microsoft Corp.'s
support and claiming that its suggested fix doesn't recover their messages.

"I have been dealing with tier two support since February 24. Three different
people ... and three different promises," wrote a user identified as AN525-24
in a post yesterday to the OneCare support message thread dedicated to the problem.

Microsoft will issue a fix for the OneCare bug tomorrow, but it's unclear
whether the patch will also be able to recover long-vanished .pst or .dbx data
files. When asked to comment on some users' inability to recover past
messages and on their call for better support, a Microsoft representative
declined. "The only information we can provide is the statement we shared on
[last] Wednesday," the representative said in an e-mail.

Another possible glitch in Microsoft's plans to patch OneCare popped up today.
"I opened Outlook 2007 today only to have it tell me there was no
outlook.pst file," wrote Seabrook.
"My OneCare was set to delete and not quarantine files. There are no files
listed under the quarantine area of OneCare. What are my options?" Last
week, Microsoft identified only older editions of Outlook -- 97 and 2000 --
and the version of Outlook Express bundled with Windows XP as susceptible to the OneCare flaw.


see article details

 

[mikescorpio81]

Without going into too much detail (I'll read more on it when I get a chance), but could anyone explain OneCare? I have hundreds of clients running multiple versions of Outlook/Outlook Express, but to be honest I haven't actually heard of or come across OneCare.

I love to learn!

 

[Tmagic650]

Live One Care is Microsoft's answer to Norton or AVG... and I'm running it now. 90 days free, after that $41 a year... For XP and Vista

It doesn't zap Outlook 2000